AllFreeNovel
Share Us
First things first—she had to set her feelings aside. It still hurt, having to leave Armin and the girls, and more than she expected. But this project had to go on.
Katie hesitated, hands over the keyboard. Then she began to type.
You don’t know me. You’ve probably never heard of me. But it’s time for me to speak. My name is Katie Crestley, and I had the enormous pleasure of being a member of Prince Armin’s household these past months. He’s not the man I expected, and not the man you imagine he is…
14
“Sir?”
Armin looked up from the papers on his desk, which he’d been working through for the last three days.
Three days without Katie, and the girls were still devastated.
Armin was too, but he couldn’t let them see him fall apart. He wouldn’t let anyone see him fall apart. So he had forced himself to read and understand all his paperwork and move on with his life. Even if it meant facing the latest conundrum about the orphanage. More whispers, more rumors. They’d called his motivations into question—of course they had. And the press had run with it. Nobody in his household was safe from being questioned. Being more accessible to the people only meant taking on more criticism. Armin didn’t have a problem with criticism, but this half-hearted nitpicking that was only meant to delay the project was driving him to madness.
Meanwhile, orphans who had been entrusted to the care of the nation went without.
It was infuriating.
He’d directed a greater portion of his charity funds to the orphanage, but the needs were much more than he could meet on his own. And now, suddenly, every contractor in the country was second-guessing the deals they’d negotiated.
He realized h
e’d been lost in thought, leaving Natalia standing in the door holding a printed paper in her hands.
“Yes. What is it?”
“An article.” Natalia came into the room and put the paper gently on his desk. “By Ms. Crestley.”
He ignored the stab to his heart. Of course she’d taken all her insider information and used it to get attention on a national scale. “Another scandal,” he said sharply. “What is there to do? Manufacture a larger scandal so that this one will stop following me around like a ghost?”
Natalia shook her head. “I don’t think that’s what it is.”
He glanced down at the paper. “You’ve read it?”
She cocked her head to the side. “It’s…very touching, honestly. And quite frank.”
“So she’s printed private information, then?” Armin had never been so torn in his life. He wanted badly to read the words Katie had written, and equally wanted to throw the article into the garbage and move on forever.
“Not exactly.” A little smile played around Natalia’s lips. “People were talking about it in the bakery this morning. It’s good for you, Prince Armin. And…if you’ll excuse me saying so, I think you should respond publicly.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that so?”
Natalia nodded, a crisp little movement. “I do.” Then she excused herself. “I think you should take a moment to read it.”
The moment Natalia was gone, Armin snatched the paper from the desk and read it, his eyes flying over the words so quickly he had to go back and read them again.
It was unbelievable.
It was raw.
It was all Katie.
He lifted the phone from his desk. “Send Valencia in to me immediately.”
The publicist appeared a few minutes later, a little flustered and out of breath. “Prince Armin.” She fumbled for a notepad and pen. “You wanted to see me.”
“I want to respond to this article,” he said, tapping it with his knuckles. “Publicly, and immediately.”
